Study inJohn’s Gospel

Presentation 79

Mark of the Church: Holiness

Chap 17v14-17

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Introduction

Holiness is the characteristic most used in the Bible to describe God. And God expects this characteristic to be reflected in the lives of his people. Peter writes, “just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."” 1Peter 1v16. And so we should not be surprised to discover that holiness is an important component of Jesus’ prayer. He prays, "protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." v15-17.

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If a lack of joy in the church can produce, “Gloomy Christianity” then a lack of holiness in the church can produce “Synthetic Christianity”. Just as a plastic handbag gives the appearance of being leather which it clearly is not, so Synthetic Christianity gives the appearance of being authentic, the real thing, but it is not for it has no place for biblical holiness!

What is HolinessBut what is holiness? Some have identified as holy those who do not gamble, smoke, drink, wear make-up or go to the cinema etc. This approach betrays a basic misconception. For although ‘holiness’ may result in abstinence from one or more of these things, the essence of holiness is not found there.

Consequently, for the church to insist on such things does not promote holiness but rather legalism and hypocrisy. In some extreme forms it may even promote a false Christianity according to which men and women are encouraged to enter into a right relationship with God on the basis of some supposedly ethical behaviour.

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What is HolinessJesus found this attitude among the religious leaders. Paul distinguishes between this kind of holiness - he uses the word “righteousness” - and true holiness, which comes from God. Paul writes of Israel, “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness” Rom. 10:3.

Israel imagined that holiness was tied into human performance. You begin by looking at those who perform poorly on the scale of human goodness - criminals, perverts, thieves, habitual liars, and so on and score them in the low teens; they don’t measure up but may ‘have their good points’.

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What is HolinessHigher up the scale Mr. Average may score 50 %. Others, who are seen to be selflessly serving their community, may score 70-80%. And of course God is allowed to score 100%. His holiness, according to this way of looking at things, is viewed as a perfection of that holiness, which lies to a greater or lesser degree in all of us. The harder we push ourselves the closer we get to God.

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Well, this is what Israel did, and what many people continue to do even today. Unfortunately, this is not the biblical idea of holiness. Rather than dealing with ethical matters primarily, it actually deals on God's level with transcendence, for he is altogether different while, on our level, it deals with a fundamental separation to him, which we would call commitment or complete dedication.

What is HolinessThis biblical idea of holiness is made clearer when we consider those words that are synonyms for it in the English language. Think of the word “saint” or the word “sanctify” used by Jesus v17. What is a saint? A saint is not a person who has achieved a certain level of goodness, though that’s what many people think, but rather one who has been set apart to God. The word ‘saints’ is not used to describe premier league Christians but those who have been called-out and set apart for God.

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What is HolinessThis idea is further illustrated in Exodus 40, where Moses is instructed to ‘sanctify’ various utensils that will be used in the tabernacle. God does not imply any intrinsic change in the nature of the objects - they are not made righteous. But they were to be ‘set apart’ to a special use in God’s service.

And so when Jesus prays in v19 “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified”. He is not suggesting that he can make himself righteous - he already was righteous. Instead, it means that he separated himself to a special task, the task of providing salvation for all men by his death. If holiness is to be understood at all, it must be understood within this framework.

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A Worldly ChurchNow if holiness has to do with separation/consecration and if Christians are already holy because they are set apart to God, why does Jesus pray for their sanctification? The answer is that although Christians are set apart to God they can fail to live up to that calling.

Instead of being distinctive and standing out we can lose that distinctiveness and become what the Bible describes as ‘worldly’ i.e. the world's values remain our values and the world's priorities our priorities. Consider the impact of the world's wisdom, the world's theology, the world's agenda, and the world's methods on the church.

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A Worldly ChurchFirst, think of the world's wisdom. In the past the wisdom of the church was the wisdom of the Scriptures. Christian people stood before the Word of God and confessed their own ignorance in spiritual things and their inability without God’s help to understand them. They recognised their resistance to spiritual things and knew that left to themselves they would always go their own way. But today that old wisdom has been replaced with other sources of wisdom. And so the authoritative, reforming voice of God through Scripture is being ignored by many.

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A Worldly ChurchChristians who provide biblical reasons for their beliefs are challenged, “Don't you know that nobody believes the Bible anymore?" Rejection of Scripture as the wisdom of God in the church has serious consequences. Men and women cannot operate without authority. So if you put out one authority, another will come in. If you reject the authority of God, a poorer human authority will emerge. Human reason replaces ‘Scripture teaches’ with ‘My thoughts are’.

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A Worldly ChurchSecondly, as the church abandons God's wisdom it becomes an irrelevant force. Nobody in the West knows where the church stands anymore. A lack of authority in the church will always lead to irrelevance. The church at its healthiest has always been marked by the appearance of a people with firm, unapologetic, often uncompromising convictions.

Put another way, Ages of Spirit breathed Christianity are not marked by 'dialogue' but by ‘proclamation.’

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A Worldly ChurchThe church is also worldly as she absorbs the world's theology. It teaches that man is basically good, no one is really lost, and belief in Jesus isn’t necessary for salvation. Recently someone asked, ‘Why try to convert people from other faith backgrounds? They have their own religion leave them alone’.

This view has its own consequences. First, theological terms begin to be redefined by the world's theology and so, "sin" means, not rebellion against God and his law, for which we are accountable, but rather ignorance and inadequate social structures. And if sin is located in the system it is overcome not by Jesus' death but by changing those social structures.

And "Salvation" is no longer defined, as "getting right with God" but rather as liberation from the oppression of this world's political structures.

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A Worldly ChurchThirdly, the church follows the world’s wisdom when it follows its agenda. E.g. Today one of the big issues is energy conservation. No sooner is it at the top of the political agenda than the church deems it more important to measure its carbon footprint than anything else.

Of course energy conservation is a legitimate concern but it ought not to be the primary concern of the church; and when we make it so we begin to look foolish in the eyes of the world. By prioritising such concerns, the church inevitably neglects its principal function of addressing the moral and spiritual climate of our day and making known the remedy found in Jesus.

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A Worldly ChurchFinally, worldliness in the church is exposed as we clamour to use the world's methods. God's methods are prayer and the power of the gospel, through which the Holy Spirit moves to turn God's people from their sinful behaviour and heal their land. That has always been the strength of the church. Today that power is despised and is being replaced by political, commercial and financial methods.

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God’s ChurchIt is important to see how true worldliness works because it is opposed to biblical holiness. We are either separated to and drawn to God or influenced by and drawn to the world. Paul writes of a travelling companion whom he saw move from one sphere of influence to another. “Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me” 2 Tim.4.10. How do we guard against this pervasive and debilitating influence? Well what does Jesus pray for? cf. v17 “sanctify them by your truth”. It is by means of the Word of God, that we are to become increasingly separated unto God and grow in practical holiness.

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God’s ChurchWithout a regular, disciplined, and practical study of the Bible, the church will remain secular. Paul describes the secular church as – “having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it.” 2 Tim. 3v5.

If the secular church employs the world's wisdom, the world's theology, the world's agenda, and the world's methods, then the counter measures we must take are to employ the wisdom of God, the theology of the Scriptures, the agenda of God's written revelation, and the methods that God has sanctioned. We are at the forefront of spiritual conflict. Make no mistake the decision we make will shape the future of the church.

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